The Battle to Contain Africa’s Hidden Killers

December 21, 2017

(CNN) – Rainy seasons in Nigeria bring out venomous snakes, which emerge from their shelters to hunt and breed. This is always a hazardous time, particularly for agricultural workers tending their fields, and this autumn proved especially cruel. Around 250 people were reportedly killed over a three-week period in the central states of Gombe and Plateau, in a crisis that overwhelmed local doctors and prompted a national outcry. The case was extreme, but not unique. Nigeria is among the countries worst affected by what some public health experts are calling an epidemic.